Former Queensland treasurer Keith De Lacy dies following cancer battle

Keith De Lacy held a tight rein on the purse strings under Wayne Goss, and went on to carve out a formidable post-politics career.

Keith De Lacy, pictured in 2018. Picture: Attila Csaszar)

Former Queensland treasurer Keith De Lacy has been remembered as a “political giant” who ­delivered budget surpluses and fiscal rigour for a state that was rocked by corruption scandals when voters turned to Labor in 1989.

He died on Friday from cancer, aged 81.

The man who held a tight rein on the purse strings for Wayne Goss’s reformist government also went on to forge a formidable business career post-politics and became a fearless critic of his own side for running up debt. He was hailed as one of Queensland’s best treasurers, laying a platform for Labor to dominate the state sphere to this day.

Leading the tributes, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “Keith was part of Wayne Goss’s government which will long be ­remembered for its reforms.”

Former Nationals premier Rob Borbidge, who took office when Goss resigned his commission in February 1996 after a by-election loss tipped the balance to the then National-Liberal coalition, said Mr De Lacy was a formidable political operator and made a substantial contribution to public life.

“Keith was a political giant of the Goss Labor era,” Mr Borbidge said. “He always expressed his opinions whether it be about me or my government or about his own party.”

Former Labor premier Peter Beattie, who returned the state ALP to power in 1998, said Mr De Lacy was the “financial rock” of the Goss government.

“He and Wayne were a close team which gave Queensland a solid financial footing on which to base more broadly focused reforms,” Mr Beattie said. “He was rightly proud of the surpluses the Goss government delivered.”

Mr Beattie’s successor as Labor premier, Anna Bligh, told The Australian: “Few may realise the role Keith played in reforming the Queensland Labor Party and ­securing Wayne Goss’s historic ­victory in 1989.

“Elected in 1983, along with a group of reforming young new Labor members that included Goss, Anne Warner, David Hamill and Paul Braddy, Keith was part of a concerted effort to reinvigorate the parliamentary Labor Party after 32 years in opposition.

“As part of that team he helped reform and modernise Queensland and left his mark on the state.”

Born in Cairns, Keith De Lacy was the quintessential new Labor man who grew up on a tobacco farm and worked in an underground coalmine before putting himself through university as a mature age student. His partnership with Goss provided the financial ballast the government needed to tackle a testing reform agenda arising from the Fitzgerald inquiry into the police and institutional corruption that had taken root under Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

A hardliner on debt, he presided over balanced budgets and built on the legacy of prudent financial management he had inherited.

Unlike most other states, Queensland boasted a fully funded super scheme and canny decision-making by the Queensland Investment Corporation, run by legendary Treasury department head Sir Leo Hielscher, wisely kept on by Mr De Lacy at the QIC.

Back in private life, he took on a raft of powerful business roles including chair of electricity distributor Ergon Energy and director and chair of metallurgic coal producer Macarthur Coal when it successfully listed in 2001.

He became a director of the QIC and president of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, earning the institute’s gold medal for achievement as well as a Member of the Order of Australia for services to Queensland.

Fiercely independent, he was a vocal critic of both sides of politics for running loose fiscal policy. Horrified by the loss of Queensland’s prized triple-A in 2009 under Labor, he attacked both Ms Bligh and later Ms Palaszczuk over their governments’ record on spending and debt.

In a memoir released earlier this year, he accused the ALP of losing its “heart and soul”.

Federal Labor’s Brisbane-based Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said the Goss government was a defining influence on his generation of MPs and “Keith’s role was absolutely crucial”.

Despite his illness, Mr De Lacy remained active in business circles and addressed a function at the Brisbane Club only last week.

He leaves daughters, Jonnie, Jacquie and Toni. Ms Palaszczuk said she extended her sympathies to the family.